Questions Six

Dani didn't talk much as he walked back to the farm house with Marie and Wally. He was thinking. Three challenges? Was Nickel going to be worth the effort? A resounding *YES!* rang through his head. He was still a little miffed that they had followed him. His time with Nickel was his, and his alone, and it was special to him, like nothing else had ever been!

Dani's head was buzzing, he was thinking so hard. "Marie? What do I do? She wants me to answer these questions and I don't know how. She won't let me....... um........" Maybe he didn't want to tell her that part. "When she says she wants something, she means it."

"Don't worry, Dani," she assured him. "We will help you come up with the answers. Won't we, Wally?" When he started to say something rude, she elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Thanks," Dani sighed, glancing one more time at the rolled up parchment in his hand. The ribbon looked like the one she had been wearing in her hair, and when he raised it to his nose, he could smell her fragrance on it.

Marie looped her arm through his. "I've never seen you like this before, Dani. She must mean a lot to you. We'll do what we can to help. I promise." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "So, no nookie till you answer these questions, huh?"

His deep sigh answered her question while Wally's wicked sounding chuckle earned him a stern look from Marie. By that time they were now approaching the house, and an anxious looking Carol was sitting out on the porch, rocking her little daughter while she waited for them to return.

Carol was surprised to see them all coming back together. She was expecting more of a report from Wally and Marie. "Hi! I wasn't expecting you all back so soon. What happened?" Dani seemed upset, she hoped everything was all right.

He sat down on the porch at her feet and unrolled the scroll. "Does this make any sense to you at all?" he asked.

Marie took the peacefully sleeping baby to tuck into her crib, so Carol would have her hands free. She took the scroll and opened it carefully. "Very pretty writing. It is harder to read sometimes." Her face took on a puzzled frown. "It's just a list of questions, Dani. What's this for?"

"Nickel says I have to do three things for her. Answering these are the first one," Dani sighed.

Wally chuckled again. "I remember a time that every man that was courting a pretty woman was given what seemed to be impossible riddles and quests to accomplish. These aren't too hard, really."

Dani didn't look happy at hearing that and Carol swatted Wally on the shoulder as he stood near her. "I guess that's the way leprechauns do things. This is the most important thing in my life. How can I do this?" His statement was almost pleading.

"Take them one at a time," Marie suggested, looking over Carol's shoulder as she read them out loud to Dani. "What is rounder than a ring? What's higher than a tree? What is worse than womankind? What's deeper than the sea? What bird crows first and what tree buds first? What first on them does fall? If ye answer these, ye will be a true love of mine."

Wally chuckled again and hummed the melody to "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme".

Marie tilted her head as if listening to something in the distance. "You know, these sound like they're from a song. Maybe not that one, but they sound almost familiar. Don't they to you, Wally?"

He looked thoughtful. "Didn't Kat sing something like that at the barn dance at Charity's? The toe tapping one....," he paused, frowning. "Yes! It was about a man wanting to lay with a woman!"

Carol smiled. "I'll tell you what. *This* one..." she gave Wally's shoulder a squeeze, "will go and invite Kat and the family over for dinner and I'm sure she would be happy to help." Wally rolled his eyes, and without a comment, headed across the fields toward Katherine's place. In the meantime, Carol and Marie tried to keep Dani's mind off the questions by keeping him busy.

"I know one!" he said as he brought in wood. "A mountain is higher than a tree!"

"But a tree can grow on the top of a mountain," Marie said gently. Dani sighed and kept thinking as he went on to his next job. Then he happened to glance out the window as he walked past it. There were some small wispy clouds flying by overhead. Suddenly he smiled. "The sky! That's higher than any tree!"

He went about his chores, humming to himself. As he fed the chickens, his face lit up as one of the answers came to him. "A rooster crows first!" he yelled out, making the chickens squawk and scatter around him. Things were definitely looking better! As he came out of the coop, the neighbors showed up in a little cart, and he ran to go help Katherine climb down. Dani was all smiles. "Hi, Kat! Did Wally tell you what happened today? He was following me, Marie too, and they almost saw Nickel. She's my girlfriend. She's a leprechaun."

"He told me," Katherine laughed as John handed her a wiggling little girl. "No, Doireann," she told her. "You can't get down here." Turning her attention back to Dani, she told him that Wally had mentioned that they needed her to sing a song that she had sung at the barn dance that celebrated Ceara's wedding.

Dani smiled. "She said I have to do three tasks before... before I can..." He wasn't sure how to say it, especially in front of the baby. "You know. The first one is answering some questions. But I already figured out the answers to two of 'em!" His face lit up like the sun.

"Good for you!" Katherine chuckled as they all went into the house. Behind her, John and Connor carried in several baskets full of goodies that she had already prepared for their supper, so she had brought it along to share. Dani babbled happily about Nickel. He was like a little kid who's been to the circus for the first time. It put a smile on everyone's face just to hear him.

Once things had been brought in, and John assigned the baby chasing detail, Katherine sang the song for them all. They had told her that she couldn't see the questions until afterwards! As Dani sat at her feet in rapt attention, she lifted up her sweet voice in song.

A nobleman's fair daughter was walking down yon lane When up comes Captain Dixon, the keeper of the game Says he unto his serving man, "If it was not for the law I'd have that maid within my bed and she'd lie next to the wall." "Go away young man," says she, "And do not me perplex. Before I lie one night with you, you'll answer questions six. Six questions you must answer, and I will make them all Before you and I in the one bed lie and I lie next to the wall." "What is rounder than a ring? What's higher than a tree? What is worse than womankind? What's deeper than the sea? What tree blooms first? What bird sings best? From where do dew drops fall? Then it's you and I in the one bed lie and I lie next to the wall." "A globe is rounder than a ring; sky higher than a tree; A girl is worse than womankind; Hell deeper than the sea; The ewe blooms first; the thrush sings best; from heaven the dew drops fall. So, it's you and I in the one bed lie and you lie next to the wall."

Dani was so delighted, he actually got up and started dancing and singing along with the chorus. His feet were moving so fast, they were hard to follow.

"Dani! When did you learn to dance like that?" Carol looked at him in amazement.

"Nickel and the other leprechauns taught me." He smiled and finally stopped. "Now I know I'll be able to answer all the questions. Thank you Kat!" He knelt down and kissed her hand, like he read in the stories Marie used to teach him to read.

He then jumped up and ran to fetch the parchment. There was a moment of panic when he discovered that some of the questions didn't quite match the song, but Katherine told him there was another version. She quoted the applicable verse, and between the two of them, they managed to get the answers to all six of the questions. It was all they could do to keep him from running out to go see if he could find her!

Dani was so anxious for dinner to be over with that he made a nuisance of himself trying to help. He fussed around setting the table and then he was shooed out of the kitchen and kept popping back in to ask if there was anything he could do to help. The ladies were giggling at him by the time they sat down to eat. Once the food was served, Dani ate so fast, they were afraid he would choke! But he managed to make it through the dinner without doing so. Afterwards, he even volunteered to clear the table! No sooner was it wiped off, than Dani took off like a bolt of lightning out of the house, heading to the dancing floor in the magical glen, where he hoped to find Nickel.

He was so excited, he felt like he might burst. He ran most of the way, going over all the answers again and again, so he couldn't forget. He wanted Nickel to be proud of him. The sound of Irish music and the step dancing of the little people propelled him to even greater speed. Rushing into the glen, he all but collapsed, gasping for breath. "Where's the fire, Dani Boy?" asked the little leprechaun king, who was sitting on a stump, sipping from a jug as he watched the dancers. As he caught his breath, Dani looked at the twirling dancers. Nickel was one of them!

"I need to talk to Nickel!" Dani was still a little out of breath. "I have the answers to her six questions." He smiled proudly, looking to see if the music might be stopping for a break soon.

With a flourish of leaps and stomping feet, the song finally ended, and Nickel came skipping over. "Did ye come for the dancin'?" she teased, climbing up into his lap, where she turned to her full size. "Or do ye ha' something fer me?"

"I do!" Dani gushed. Taking a deep breath, he carefully recited the answers. "A globe is rounder than a ring. The sky is higher than a tree. A girl is worse than a woman and hell is deeper than the sea." He took another breath. This was the tricky part. "A rooster crows first and the cedar buds first. And it is dew that falls on them both!" He stopped, looking at her anxiously.

The whole crowd broke into cheers and applause, but Dani barely noticed. His gaze was fixed on Nickel and the look in her eyes. Nothing else mattered to him.

The kiss that she gave him as a reward filled him with enough energy to join them in dancing until the wee hours of the morning. As she walked home with him through the wood, her little hand in his, his heart was as light as much as his feet were tired. When they reached the steps leading up to the porch, she kissed him again. "Now fer yer second challenge," she said. "These things ye must bring me. Get for me a dish on it which lies fruit that in December grew, a cherry that has no stone, and a chicken that has no bone. Bring me also a mantle that weft never went through, a bird without a gall, and tell me of the priest that was unshorn. Then I will know that ye are a true lover of mine!"

Dani blinked, worried again, because these things seemed very hard, but before he could say anything, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and vanished. A faint giggle floated to him on the air and another little scroll of parchment appeared in the air before him. "Good night, Nickel," he whispered.